


Make Them Wait

by thegingermidget



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Eventual Smut, F/F, Fem!Hux, Femslash, Genderbending, fem!Kylo
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-21
Updated: 2019-05-19
Packaged: 2019-11-01 13:15:50
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,821
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17867939
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thegingermidget/pseuds/thegingermidget
Summary: General Hux and Kylo Ren find themselves at odds, from the day they first met. Hux relies on rules, protocol, and order whereas Ren seems to have no respect for the institutions Hux holds dear. They learn to get along despite their differences.(aka three times Ren makes Hux wait, and one time she doesn't)





	1. The First Meeting

The sound of her alarm and the lights in her room brightening by increments woke Armitage Hux from a restless sleep. There had been no dreams during the night, a sign that she had hardly gone to sleep at all. Tossing and turning all night had left her with a sore neck and shadows under her eyes.

No matter. 

Time marched on and already she had places to be. Off went her nightclothes and on came her uniform. Trousers, undershirt, tunic, belt, socks, and boots in that order. Then a quick turn in front of the mirror to fix her appearance. The dark circles under her eyes needed to go first. A flick of mascara made two sets of invisible eyelashes appear. A pencil on her colorless brows achieved a similar effect. Her hair was tied back and lacquered into position. Then she surveyed herself.

Severe. Indomitable. Not as tired as she felt.

It would have to do. She was not about to keep Kylo Ren waiting.

Hux didn’t have to worry too much about first impressions these days. There was hardly anyone who could touch her now. She commanded her own ship with a crew of over eighty thousand. There were other generals in the First Order, but none that held the Supreme Leader’s favor the way she did. Those generals had their own ships and their own battles but at the forefront of it all, there was just her.

Kylo Ren was an outlier and that made Hux nervous. There was very little known about the Supreme Leader’s apprentice, only that they were powerful, formidable, and mysterious, which wasn’t very much to go on. 

The Supreme Leader had informed her of his apprentice’s arrival a mere twelve hours ago; hardly enough time to prepare. He had also failed to give her any further details. What would this newcomer’s role be aboard the ship? Would they expect to command Hux’s troops?

Once Kylo Ren was settled in, the two of them were expected to join the Supreme Leader in the audience chamber. Hux knew that answers were forthcoming, but she was feeling unusually nervous and impatient, which she hated. 

After an allotted ten minutes of reading daily missives and sipping her morning Tarine tea laced with a stim, she made her way down to the main hangar to receive Kylo Ren. 

A squadron of ten stormtroopers and five officers awaited her there. They were the compliment spared to greet Kylo Ren. Hux nodded appreciatively at their timeliness and uniformity. Even she failed to find fault with them. 

She could not say the same for Kylo Ren. 

After the years she had spent with her father and Grand Admiral Rae Sloane, not to mention her time at the Academy, Hux had her emotions and her appearance under her complete control. Forty-five minutes spent waiting for Kylo Ren tested her training and patience. She feared she looked a fool, standing stiff and proper for someone who did not respect her enough to arrive on time. 

The lieutenant in charge of communications swore that Kylo Ren and his entourage remained en route. Hux refused to shout at him, but the glare she gave the baby-faced lieutenant was enough to make him sweat. Good, at least someone here was as uncomfortable as she was. 

When Kylo Ren did arrive, Hux had no cordiality or good humor left. The shuttle’s ramp descended with a dramatic hiss. Upon seeing Kylo Ren for herself, Hux wondered if the sound and smoke had been increased for effect.

Kylo Ren dressed in dark black robes with ragged edges. Their shoulders were broad and their gate was wide and powerful, hardly the military lockstep Hux preferred. A black and silver mask hid their identity, clearly an homage to the dearly departed Darth Vader. 

The stormtroopers and officers saluted Kylo Ren while Hux remained still. Without the ability to see Kylo Ren’s face and eyes, Hux had to rely on the figure’s larger movements and guesswork. They appeared not to notice the gesture. They headed straight for Hux and greeted her alone. Hux tried her best not to squirm as Kylo Ren stepped a bit too close to her. It was then that Hux decided that Ren had to be a man. He reminded her of every other man who had tried to intimidate her, make her feel small in his presence. Hux grit her teeth and refused to let him.

“Kylo Ren,” she greeted. “Welcome aboard the Finalizer.”

“You will show me to my quarters.”

Hux bristled at receiving an order from anyone. She heard one of her personal lieutenants scoff at her side. They had stormtroopers for that kind of task. To ask a General to act as a protocol droid was something no one in the First Order would have dared to do. Surely Kylo Ren knew that. 

Had anyone else asked such a thing of her, Hux might have had them demoted or thrown out an airlock. But Kylo Ren was already proving himself to be an exception. The Supreme Leader had instructed her to make sure that Kylo Ren was well taken care of. To get on Kylo Ren’s bad side so soon was to lose Snoke’s favor as well. 

So Hux smiled as best she could, a cold, close-lipped thing. “Of course,” she said. “Follow me.”

Hux waved off the escort that was about to follow them. She wanted to be alone with Kylo Ren, she wanted a chance to figure him out.

“I am General Hux and I am the commander of the Finalizer,” said Hux as they walked. Kylo Ren hadn’t asked, but Hux needed Ren to know exactly who he was dealing with. 

Ren said nothing. They moved at a pace so brisk Hux wondered if Kylo Ren wasn’t trying to leave her behind. 

“You’ll be staying in the officer’s wing while you are with us.” Hux soldiered on despite the lack of response. “If there is anything you require-”

“Do you always talk this much?” Ren spoke through a voice modulator that rasped and likely gave him a deeper voice than the one he actually possessed. 

“No,” Hux said. Her teeth were going to be powder by the end of the day. “But I’m not always playing the role of a protocol droid either. There’s a first time for everything.”

Hux was grateful to arrive at the door to Ren’s quarters when they did. She wasn’t sure how much more she could take. 

Much as she would have liked to watch Ren struggle with the keypad that unlocked her door, Hux stepped aside to show her how it operated. The biometric scanner and code had to be entered with the bare skin of the inhabitant’s hand and would not open otherwise. She opened her mouth to speak when Kylo Ren raised a hand. At first glance, she assumed the hand was meant to silence her and Hux was more than ready to launch into a tirade against him. But then the door slid open with a slight metallic groan of resistance.

“You will meet me here in one hour to show me to the Supreme Leader’s hall,” said Kylo Ren. Hux’s hands tightened into fists. The door slid shut again with another screech and she was left alone in the corridor, seething. 

She wanted to scream or hit something. If she hadn’t been wearing her uniform gloves, her nails would have drawn blood from her palms. This was worse than anything she could have imagined. Kylo Ren was entirely insufferable. 

Hux had no time to release any of her aggression though. She had troops to oversee and engineering plans to finalize and she only had an hour to tackle any of it. The anger gathered inside her and made a home in her chest, squeezing its way in beside her most vital organs. 

That anger fueled her throughout her hour alone. She couldn’t say for sure whether or not she actually got any work done. No matter how she tried to focus, she felt as though she were spinning her wheels and going nowhere. 

Her quarters felt different from how she had left them. Perhaps it was simply her agitation or the fact that the most irritating person in the galaxy now resided a few rooms away, but she felt strange in a place she was intimately familiar with. There was a prickling on the back of her neck. If any sense of superstition still lived within her, she might have said there was a presence in her room. She had a sense that someone was watching her.

Such thinking was nonsense and Hux knew it, but the feeling remained. 

She was almost glad when the time to collect Kylo Ren came around, but then she remembered the task at hand. Kylo Ren had already earned a place amongst her least favorite people and the Supreme Leader was difficult at the best of times. 

The two of them did not speak as they made their way to the reception chamber. Hux liked Ren better that way. 

They stood at their marks and waited for the connection. Hux refused to even glance at Ren while they waited. He wasn’t worth her attention. 

It took a few moments for Snoke’s signal to connect. The two of them waited, heads bowed, for the transmission to appear. All at once, the room filled with cold blue light, and they lifted their heads to greet the being who had brought them together.

“I trust your journey was uneventful,” said Snoke to his apprentice. He hardly seemed to notice that Hux was even there. 

“We were delayed. I sent Tykos and Isla to the Derian system. We received reports that the map might be found nearby.”

“I am glad you remembered my orders and came here instead of going with them. The map is nowhere near as important as your training. Speaking of your progress- remove your helmet, let me see your face.”

“Master-”

“I won’t ask again.”

Kylo Ren looked down, cowed for the first time since Hux had met him. Much as Hux wanted to believe she didn’t care and wanted to keep up the pretense of not caring, she couldn’t help but watch as Kylo Ren reached up to the edge of the helmet, disengaged the latches with a hiss, and pulled the helmet off of his head. 

The first thing Hux saw was a mess of black hair. Only the intervention of the force could have kept that much hair in check beneath a helmet like that. It fell in styled waves as she shook it out- yes, she. Hux’s breath hitched as she took in the lush, rosy lips, the dark eyelashes, and the unabashedly feminine face of Kylo Ren. 

She was attractive, with thick eyebrows and an unconventional nose. Her face was set in a petulant scowl even as she tried to appear obedient in the face of her master. Kylo Ren turned her eyes up to her master looking all at once reverent. 

“Much better,” said Snoke. Hux wasn’t sure she agreed. The revelation that Kylo Ren was a woman made her situation better and worse in ways that she hadn’t fully considered just yet. “Now to business, I am sure you and the General have acquainted yourselves already.”

“Yes, sir-”

“Yes, master.”

The two of them answer at the same time and neither of them can resist turning to look at the other.

“Excellent, the two of you will have plenty of time in the coming weeks and months to get to know each other better. My apprentice, the Finalizer shall become your base of operations for the foreseeable future. General, Kylo Ren is to act as co-commander of your ship. You will work together for the good of the Order, balancing Lady Ren’s pursuits with the General’s personal project.”

Hux smirked at the mention of Starkiller Base. She wondered if Kylo Ren had any idea what she had designed. A weapon more powerful than anything the mythical force could elicit. The thought was almost enough to silence the sense of alarm she felt at the term ‘co-commander’. 

“General, you will remain in charge of daily operations, but when Lady Ren has need of your armament, you will give her control of whatever she requires.”

Hux’s jaw dropped a fraction at thought of ceding command to anyone. She had fought for every bloody inch of power she had. She wasn’t about to give any of it up without dying for it. 

“Of course, Supreme Leader,” she demurred through her teeth. 

“Excellent.” Snoke sounded pleased. Hux wondered if even with all of his force abilities he was unable to tell how angry she was or perhaps he was laughing at her. 

She left with a short bow and her hands balled into fists.


	2. The First Fight

Working with Kylo Ren was a nightmare.

She had no idea how to run a star destroyer, she did not contribute to strategy meetings, mostly because she rarely deigned to show up, she terrorized the crew with the rest of her knights, she showed no respect for anyone else on the Finalizer, and she made demands of Hux almost daily.

How could she be expected to equip the Knights of Ren with ten TIE fighters on a whim? It wasn’t as though they had extra ships lying around.

Perhaps worst of all was that Ren refused to go anywhere without that awful mask. Now that Hux had seen what was hidden beneath it and knew that Ren had no need of it, she found it completely ridiculous. Hux had to walk amongst her soldiers daily, showing only her bare face to the world. She was routinely stripped bare by their gazes. But at least she was brave enough to do it. Ren got away with hiding behind a mask. 

Snoke’s hope that the two of them might actually get along was laughable. 

Their first encounter with enemy forces occurred less than a week after their initial meeting. The Order had a small mining operation set up on Zakar V, one of Aldan’s moons, and a presence on the inhabited planet, Aldan. The tiny Outer Rim planet, Aldan, was under First Occupation and was experiencing a rebellion of the locals against stormtroopers stationed there. 

Their battle strategy had been honed in the days leading up to it. Ren had appeared at one meeting. She walked out in the middle of it.

Nevertheless, Hux charitably assigned a ground role to Kylo Ren and her knights. They were expected to go down to the planet and take out the rebel faction leaders one by one, while a TIE fighter squadron set fire to nearby grain fields. Command had agreed that the Aldanians needed to be punished for their insubordination.

Hux wasn’t losing any sleep over the minor skirmish they had planned. Aldan hardly rated amongst the larger conflicts she had seen. 

The morning of the planned assault, Hux rose early and headed to the bridge. They had come out of hyperspace sometime in the night cycle and were nearly in range of the planet. Hux was assured that they were still too far away to be seen on the planet’s surface. 

Ren and her knights had been roused earlier in the morning. Hux had not been around to see them off. The lieutenants on the bridge insisted that Lady Ren was aware of the task they were meant to accomplish. Lieutenant Mitaka discretely informed her that Lady Ren’s wardrobe had been fitted with a tracker and commlink. 

Hux smiled. She had been told before that she had a troubling smile, that it didn’t come naturally, but she gave it her best shot. 

Today was going to go well. She would make sure of it. 

Hux had bypassed being forthright and asking Ren to wear the tracker and commlink. A week had been more than enough time for Hux to realize that Ren didn’t like or trust her and the feeling was mutual. Working behind Ren’s back was simpler, easier. She had no fear of discovery or retribution either. Hux had yet to witness the supernatural abilities Ren claimed to have, aside from a few whispered tales of crushed larynges down in the engine rooms and a couple of disabled security cameras, Hux hadn’t seen or heard anything to be afraid of. 

She ordered Mitaka to keep Kylo Ren’s video feed on his screen at all times. Even in the midst of everything else, she would be able to keep an eye on what she was doing. 

Hux closed her eyes as she stood facing the main viewport and planet Aldan beyond them. The TIE fighters were en route, Ren and her knights had landed on the planet’s surface. All that was left to do now was watch and wait. 

The chatter from the TIE pilots was broadcast on the bridge to monitor their progress and position. A feed from one a camera positioned at an on-planet base played on a nearby monitor. Everything was going according to plan. 

An officer stationed to Hux’s right informed her that a few members of the planet’s Resistance had encountered the Knights of Ren. She was monitoring incoming reports from stationed stormtroopers. Five members of the Resistance had been caught completely unawares and were cut down in seconds by red lightsabers. 

Hux wondered if Ren was proud of their progress so far. She wondered if Ren had been the one to kill them. She hoped that somewhere under that hideous mask, Ren was sweating her arse off. 

The TIE fighters had located the large fields of Tassleterry grain in a rural community a few miles away from the planet’s capital. They were initiating fire runs across a large swath of it. 

Then, Hux heard a commotion coming from one of the stations just below the main walkway.

“What? What is this?” muttered a major. Light flashed across her face rapidly as she shifted between screens.

Hux turned on her heel and stalked over, ready to investigate.

“Major, report.”

“Ma’am,” the major shook her head. “I’ve intercepted radio chatter. At first, it was faint, but it’s getting clearer. I… I think we’re under attack.”

“By whom?”

The officer seated next to her was refreshing radar readings. “Ma’am, ships are dropping out of hyperspace all around us.”

Sure enough, two red dots appeared next to the larger dot at the center of the map that represented the Finalizer. Then a third joined it. Then a fourth and a fifth…

“Who are they?”

The two officers seated in front of her shared a glance before turning hastily to their instrument panels. Hux closed her eyes and counted to ten, willing herself not to shout at them. 

When she reached ten and still didn’t have an answer, Hux decided to take action. 

“Ready our fighters and initialize the ion cannons.” They had to prepare for the worst. 

“Ma’am,” said the major, “early chatter indicates that they are resistance fighters. They’re answering a distress call from compatriots on Aldan.”

“They’ve come to the rescue,” said Hux. She almost felt like smiling once again. “We’ll make sure they all go up in flames.”

She put a team of analysts to work on figuring out who exactly they were fighting and where they were coming from. A single command vessel and six x-wings had come out of hyperspace, not a tremendous force but still enough to cause trouble. Two of the x-wings had broken off from the group. The rest stayed close, ready to engage with the Finalizer. 

“Major, tell our TIE fighters on the ground that two enemy combatants flying modified x-wing fighters are headed their way.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Mitaka, what is the status of our ion cannons?”

“Initialized and waiting, ma’am.”

“Target their cruiser. Captain, tell delta squadron to protect the cannons. Beta squadron can go after their fighters.”

“Yes, General.”

Hux clasped her hands behind her back and took a deep breath. There was nothing quite like being in the heat of battle, particularly when the odds were in their favor. She might have enjoyed more of a challenge, but that was what simulators were for. A true leader knew to accept victory when it was offered. 

The rest of the bridge hummed with activity around her and she stood at the center of it all, fully in control. She lived for days like today.

“General?” 

Her moment of calm satisfaction was broken by Lieutenant Mitaka who seemed aware that his intrusion was unwanted. 

“Is something wrong with the cannons, lieutenant?”

“Ma’am, it’s about Lady Ren. The signal from her commlink and tracker has been lost.”

Hux nodded, confirming that she understood. It was not the worst news she could have received, though it could certainly prove to be a problem. Still, as long as the Knights of Ren continued to be unchallenged on the planet’s surface, it was nothing that couldn’t be fine-tuned in the future. 

“Do we have visual on the Knights of Ren’s progress through the capital city?”

“I’ll work on it, ma’am.”

There was no sense in worrying about something before she had to. The plan was to have the knights rendezvous with the local stormtrooper battalion in order to be picked up at the end of the engagement. They had one hour to get in and out, having taken out all of their targets. Hux didn’t necessarily need to keep surveillance on them. It was highly unorthodox in the context of every other soldier Hux commanded, but apparently certain accommodations needed to be made for Kylo Ren.

She placed Lieutenant Thannison in charge of the ion cannons. The Resistance ship was taking heavy fire and looked to be on the brink of retreating. They still had the x-wings to deal with and one of them appeared to have a highly skilled pilot inside. They had managed to evade almost an entire squadron of TIE fighters and had gotten a few good shots in at their westernmost ion cannon. The loss of a cannon wasn’t going to mean much to the Resistance though if they were down six starfighters. 

“Mitaka, report.”

The lieutenant frowned. “No word or visual from her. The governor’s mansion has gone up in smoke. We believe that the mayor and chancellor are dead. Our efforts appear to have provoked sympathetic farmers on the planet. The militia is larger than our estimates.”

“What do we have to fear from farmers with pitchforks?”

“Ma’am, they’ve set fire to the governor’s mansion and it appears that they are headed towards our base on the planet.”

Hux bit the inside of her cheek. Of course, these rebels were smart enough to choose the location of the highest strategic importance to go after next. Why couldn’t they content themselves with robbing and looting like a normal mob?

She ordered one of her communications analysts to monitor the security footage near their base. As soon as the mob or the knights came anywhere near it, she wanted to know.

“Continue working on fixing that link. Keep me abreast of any further developments.”

Other officers informed her that the number of enemy x-wings had dwindled down to two. One had gone down to the planet’s surface to assist the others there, while another had been shot down. Their own TIE squadrons had lost five out of twenty fighters, which Hux deemed acceptable numbers. That left enough fighters to give two x-wings hell and keep them far away from their precious ion cannons. 

Already the larger resistance ship was pulling out of range of their cannons, which meant that their shields were unable to take much more. This whole skirmish would be over soon enough, meaning all that was left to do was wait. 

The orange and black, expertly flown x-wing was not going down without a fight, but there wasn’t a pilot in the galaxy that could out-fly twelve TIE fighters. The other fighter was having a hard time shaking the three that remained on its tail and it seemed that fight was close to ending in an explosion rather than a retreat. 

Sure enough, the second x-wing went down seconds later taking out two TIE fighters following too close behind it. The third TIE fighter joined the swarm that raced after the lone x-wing that remained. Hux thought she might almost be sad to see the last pilot go. Their flying really was superb. 

“Ma’am?” A small voice called from down below and some distance away. Hux turned and searched for whoever it was that could have called for her. No one of any caliber could have made it out of the academy with a meek demeanor like that. Hux wasn’t sure that anyone with that kind of voice could have made it onto her bridge with a voice like that. 

When she looked below to find the source of the voice, she found a round-faced major hiding behind her display. 

Hux had no patience for weakness. “What is it?”

“Ma’am, I’m Meteorologist Tella. Um, something has come up that I think you should be aware of.” The lieutenant was breathing heavily as though even speaking to their superior officer was too much for them to handle. Hux desperately wondered how they had managed to gain a position on her bridge.

“Spit it out major.”

“There are lightning storms approaching Aldan City. The outer range of the storm should hit the city center in ten minutes.” Meteorologist Tella spoke quickly this time, shifting her tactic from speaking so quietly no one could hear her to shoving all of the words out in a rush. Hux heard her though, and she was not pleased.

“Why are you informing me of this now, rather than when we could do something about it?” she asked through gritted teeth.

“Well, you see, I’ve only had a few hours to process the most recent models for the area. Some of the models conflicted with others, the smoke from the fires is definitely going to have an effect on air pressure and overall-”

“Major!” Hux interrupted. She knew she had shouted despite desperately trying to keep a hold of her temper. “Is there anything else I need to be aware of?”

The meteorologist seemed to shrink three sizes in their chair. “The lightning has the potential to knock out communications signals and make it more difficult for ships to break atmo. Ordinary flights would need to be grounded.”

Hux nodded. “Thank you, Major Tella. I shall take your information under advisement.”

Now Hux knew why Major Tella had managed to go unnoticed for as long as she had. Meteorology was so rarely something important enough for a general to consider. Their findings went to ballistics and engineering who then made their own recommendations to Hux with that information factored in. This was almost certainly the first time Tella had ever spoken on deck. With any luck, it would be the last.

They placed a timer on the main screen overlaying the main viewport, counting down the minutes until the storm reached Aldan City and their communications with their troops down there was momentarily cut off. Hux walked back to Lieutenant Mitaka’s station, praying that he had managed to regain connection with Kylo Ren. 

The mob had reached their base on Aldan and were working their way inside. There were all sorts of security protocols and barricades for them to contend with, but they were angry and persistent. It would only be a matter of time before they gained entry.

A communications analyst informed her that smoke and loud explosions had been reported from Aldan City’s downtown center. The analysts believed that the Knights of Ren were responsible and they were making their way to the base for removal. 

The militia had made its way inside the First Order base, dispatching a few of the stormtroopers they encountered along the way. Security cameras picked up new movement along several corridors as members of the mob made their way to command centers, barracks, and the armory. It was still unclear what they planned to do now that they had control of the base. Hux hoped they were as disorganized as they appeared, never having expected themselves to get this far. 

If the mob remained in this state of regrouping for long enough, it seemed likely that the Knights of Ren could come in behind them, trapping them in the base and cutting them down one by one. Now they just had the lightning to contend with. 

“Ma’am?” One of the communications analysts called for her attention. If Hux had to hear another nervous ‘ma’am’ she was going to start shouting. 

“Yes, lieutenant?”

“We have a visual on some of the rebels in the base. It appears they have equipped themselves with several of our weapons in an effort to go after the rest of our troops in town. Another group appears to be attempting to hack into our network, engineering is working on a way to keep our forces out. A third group seems to be blockading themselves inside the base and preparing for an attack.”

So the rebels weren’t as ill-prepared as they appeared. “Thank you for the update, lieutenant.”

Hux was beginning to sweat. She had been pacing about the deck, called from one end to the other with each new update. This was what she was good at, this was what she loved, but commanding a star destroyer was also one hell of a workout, physically and mentally. She had watched too many men crack under the pressure of even a simulated battle. She was not about to crack. 

“Ma’am, I have visual on the Knights of Ren,” said Mitaka from his station. Lieutenant Thannison gave him a confused look as he continued to man their ion cannons. Surveillance wasn’t usually Lieutenant Mitaka’s expertise. 

Hux gave him the order to display it on their monitor for her to see it. The footage was shaky, coming from a hidden camera located on Kylo Ren’s belt buckle. A haze of red light, the sound of crackling electricity, and Ren’s movements made the video nearly unwatchable. One of the communications analysts placed a security camera feed beside the first person footage of Kylo Ren, giving the shaky camera work a bit of context. 

What Hux saw took her breath away. 

For a moment, everyone on the bridge stopped what they were doing and stared as they all received their first look at what the Knights of Ren could do. They worked as a unit, six of them in total. With actual lightsabers, the kind spoken about in fairytales, they made their way through Aldan City and towards the base. No one was spared from their violence. 

At the center of them all was Lady Kylo Ren in her distinctive mask and robes. She led the charge with a tremendous sword of red light. She spun and sliced, pushed and throttled anyone in her way. 

No number of rebels could match them. As Hux watched, dozens of people, some fighters, some civilians, met their ends by Kylo Ren’s sword. She showed no mercy, no sign of slowing. It didn’t matter whether they tried to fight back or whether they were running for their lives. If someone managed to get too close, if they appeared in her line of sight, they were finished. 

Hux wished she had a better vantage point from which to watch all of this unfold. Security footage could only show them so much. She watched them enter the First Order base, making their way to the hangar where they could commandeer a vessel and leave, their mission completed.

They had no trouble breaking down the rudimentary barricade that the rebels had hastily constructed. Kylo Ren herself kicked down the doors and swung her blade with both hands through the chest of the first person she encountered. None of the blaster fire that the rebels laid down on them met their mark. The Knights of Ren walked through chaos untouchable and invincible.

It was truly awe-inspiring to watch, a thing of beauty. Hux didn’t think her first impressions of Kylo Ren had been incorrect and she certainly didn’t think this meant that she deserved any of the special treatment she had gotten, but there was some small amount of respect for Kylo Ren growing within her. This was hard to deny. 

“Like that, General?” A voice echoed throughout the bridge from the main speakers. Hux felt her face go red at being addressed so suddenly and directly. She felt like a cadet caught eavesdropping.

“Ma’am?” called Mitaka. “It appears that Lady Ren’s commlink is back online.”

“I can hear that,” said Hux irritably. “Lady Ren, how kind of you to join us.”

She left off the fact that this entire mission would have been less complicated if Ren had deigned to keep in contact with them throughout. It appeared now that Ren had known she was being monitored the whole time. Perhaps she had even disrupted her own signal in order to keep Hux from spying on her. 

“My pleasure,” grunted Ren. From the video feed, Hux could see she had just deflected several blaster bolts with her weapon only to finally kill the person responsible for them. “We shouldn’t have any problems making our scheduled rendezvous.”

Hux spared a glance at the meteorologist still recovering from speaking up earlier. “Right, there is a minor issue you should be aware of before take-off. Meteorology has informed me that there are lightning storms about to overtake the region. At most, you have five minutes. I would advise you to stay put until we can guarantee a safe departure.”

She waited for a response but found only dead air. The video feed from Ren had dissolved into static as well. Hux grit her teeth.

“Lieutenant,” she growled at Mitaka. 

“On it, sir- ma’am.” He frantically began swiping at screens trying to get Kylo Ren back online. “Permission to have someone from technical support assist me?”

“Granted, just- fix this.” She was nearing the end of her rope. Of all the times for something to go wrong. She couldn’t even be sure that Ren had heard her warning. “Do we still have communication with the rest of our troops on-planet?”

“Yes, ma’am. We haven’t lost connection yet due to the storm,” answered a major in communications. 

Well, at least she knew that if Ren died from this it wouldn’t be Hux’s fault. 

She watched as their timer slowly ran out. The storm had reached Aldan City and there was no longer any way of communicating with anyone. Lieutenant Mitaka sat back in his chair, took off his cap for a moment, and wiped the sweat off of his brow. Hux was almost of a mind to cite him for a uniform violation but she wasn’t feeling quite that vindictive. 

Now that there was nothing she could do for anyone on Aldan, she turned her attention to the Resistance ships who had tried to come to Aldan’s rescue. The single x-wing remained, diving in and out of hard to reach places, narrowly avoiding the six TIE fighters left on their tail. 

It was undeniably impressive and it made Hux furious. 

An officer from the communications department frowned and leaned in towards her earpiece. “Ma’am, there’s a dispatch from the Resistance. We believe it’s from the starfighter that’s still out there.”

“Is it important?”

The officer frowned again, as though she was having trouble understanding the message. “No? I don’t think so, but it sounds like she’s letting us know that she’s about to retreat.”

“She?”

“The rebel pilot, ma’am,” The officer closed her eyes to pay more attention to what she is hearing. “Yes, she says ‘she has had fun but the boss says it’s time to go home, see you again real soon, Poe over and out’?”

The officer phrased it like a question because the message seemed absolutely absurd, but she appeared to have no doubt about the content she had just relayed. Sure enough, the x-wing soared past the viewport for another lap around the ship before making a jump to hyperspace, narrowly avoiding a collision with one of the TIE fighters attempting to take her down. 

Hux gave the order for the TIE squadrons to return to the ship, their enemy successfully run off. Now all that was left to worry about were the Knights.

“Still no word from them?” Hux asked, knowing that the question was redundant. 

She stood in front of the main viewport and looked out at the planet before them. The lightning storm was small visible from space. It did not look good. 

“Probability that a ship can break atmo in these conditions?” Hux asked. Three statisticians and a droid rushed to answer her. The question was useless at this point, there was nothing she could do one way or the other to improve their odds. All she could do was wait, so in the meantime, she wanted to know. 

“What is the pilot’s skill-level?” asked a short analyst with dark hair.

“Undetermined,” Hux answered, honestly without a clue. Then she remembered the skill with which the Knights fought and the assistance the force likely offered. “Intermediate to expert,” she amended. 

The statisticians puzzled away for a moment and Hux was left with a rare few seconds of silence. No one asked her for anything, no one needed instruction. Their plans were in motion, they just needed time in which to be carried out. 

“1 in 4 million, nine hundred sixty-nine thousand-”

“That’s enough,” Hux interrupted. She didn’t need to know down to the thousandths place how likely it was that the Knights would fall out of the sky. There was one other question on her mind though. “What are the odds that they do not make it?”

“Ma’am?” Hux knew her wording had not been clear, but she had wanted to remain delicate. 

“What is the likelihood that the storm and potential crash kills them?”

 

The group nods and goes back to their numbers and machines. “1 in 10,” said the statistician who seemed to speak for the group.

Hux thought she could live with those odds until the statistician corrected themselves. “That is,” they continued, “As long as they get out of there in the next two minutes. After that, the probability is more like 1 in 3 due to the storm increasing in strength and volatility exponentially.”

Lovely, the odds of the Knights of Ren perishing in their first week with the Finalizer was almost a coin flip. Still, there remained a significant chance that the ship simply crashed and they survived or the ship failed to take off. Perhaps she could live with that knowledge for the next two minutes until they found out.

Hux hated waiting for Ren. She stood under the scrutiny of all her men for the second time since Ren had joined them. There was nothing she could do, nothing she could tell them to make this better. She just had to wait. 

The bridge was nearly silent. Likely, as silent as it ever was. They had to wait, just like Hux, for something, whatever it ended up being, to happen. 

If they didn’t appear within the next two minutes, there was a significant chance that the Knights had died or that they were stranded on the planet until the storm blew over. If they had been successful in reaching atmo, they would hear from them in about five minutes. If they had failed or worse, they had at least a half hour to find out. 

Hux stood tall and strong at the head of the bridge and waited. Static from Ren’s commlink played over the speakers. It was the only sound that could be heard. Another countdown clock had been set up on the main display. Only seconds to go until they heard something.

Everyone on the bridge watched the timer tick down to zero. If the Knights of Ren had not launched by now, there was no hope for them. A second timer was set up. If by the time the second timer ran out, they had not heard anything, they could assume that the Knights were still on Aldan or they had died in the attempt.

The second countdown went by slower than the first. The crew on the bridge was beginning to grow restless. The silence was unbearable. Some crew members, made uncomfortable by the absence of sound, coughed or shifted in their chairs. Hux thought about commanding them to sit still. 

She closed her eyes for the last minute and thought about how she wanted this to end. Did she want the Knights to die in a fiery explosion, ridding herself of their nuisance in one fell swoop? Did she want them to live, if only so that Snoke didn’t blame her for their deaths?

She was equal parts embarrassed and astonished to find that she did, in fact, want the Knights to make it. Something didn’t feel right about them dying in such a mundane fashion. She had witnessed their power now, seen what made them special. They were truly savage fighters and clearly wielded a force that Hux knew nothing of and could not control. She was both frightened and intrigued by its beauty. It would be a shame to see it snuffed out so quickly.

And then there was the matter of Ren, whom she hated. Ren wasn’t the kind of adversary Hux came across anymore. No one had defied her like that in years. She was infuriating in both her attitude and her aura of mystery. Part of Hux wanted to be rid of her immediately, while another still wanted to test her worth. Why was Ren so important to Snoke? And just how powerful was she?

Not to mention the fact that Lady Ren’s unmasked face had cropped up in a not insignificant number of Hux’s dreams in the week since Hux had seen it. And it helped that it was a rather attractive face.

No, much to Hux’s surprise she found that she did not want the Knights to die and she very much wished for this waiting game to end. When she opened her eyes once more, she found that the timer had run out and there was still no word from them.

“Right then,” Hux murmured, more to herself than anyone. She hoped she didn’t sound too disappointed. “We shall wait until communications can resume with the surface. How long until that is possible?”

“Thirty minutes, ma’am.”

“Have the TIE squadrons checked in at the hangar yet?”

“The fighters sent down to Aldan as well as the alpha and beta squadrons have all checked in.”

Hux nodded and allowed herself a deep breath. She had been holding tension in her shoulders throughout the engagement and now she let herself release it. It was over, for now, time to begin what she considered the clean-up process. 

“Good, what is the status of our shields and ion cannons?”

“Shields at eighty percent, one ion cannon-”

Just then, the static that had been playing as white noise on the bridge erupted into a disrupted signal. There was someone on the other end of the line.

“Hope we didn’t worry you too much, General. I can handle a bit of wind and lightning.”

Hux’s fist tightened behind her back. She was going to have to see a dental droid to fix her teeth after how much she had ground them down throughout this mission. 

“Not at all, Lady Ren,” she said through gritted teeth. “We’ve been waiting for you.”


	3. The First Dance

Kylo Ren was late. Again.

Hux straightened the cuffs on her white dress uniform and brushed away a speck of dust visible only to her. They were meant to make their entrance together, complete with two of Hux’s lieutenants chosen specifically for the task at hand.

Diplomacy had never been Hux’s strong suit. She had been told before that making small talk and feigning interest were two areas in which she failed miserably. She had never good at making herself seem likable. The act of it felt too much like leaving parts of herself behind, making herself smaller, different from who she really was. Too many people had tried to force into a role that didn’t fit her. Her father had tried to lead her into a more diplomatic role, towards brokering agreements between factions rather than engineering and war-making. The older officers at the Academy hadn’t taken her seriously either, at least, they hadn’t up and until they had seen her exam scores. She wasn’t about to willingly part with the best parts of herself for anyone. 

Which was why she needed Ren. While the last few months had shown that Ren too had the social skills of an irate nerf, she had a presence that was irresistible. The power she commanded never failed to turn heads. If Hux couldn’t convince these diplomats to donate their ill-gotten gains to the First Order with logic and reason, Ren’s intimidating stature and command of the force might. 

But when five minutes late had turned into fifteen and ‘fashionably late’ began to look more like rude and inconsiderate, Hux had entered accompanied by one of her lieutenants. The other was left to wait for Lady Ren outside. 

Hux plucked a flute of some bubbling pink beverage from a plate carried by a passing droid. There was no chance of enjoying herself tonight, but the luxury of alcohol was not something she was about to pass up. She lifted the glass in mock salute to her lieutenant before downing it in one go. She was sure that none of the other party guests had seen. After a reception hour, the formal dinner, and now a bit of dancing she knew that her fellow guests hardly paid any attention to her.

Sure, she had been a curiosity as soon as she walked in the room. New arrivals entered at the top of a grand staircase and descended to the hall below. Often a round of applause went up for someone popular or exciting. Regardless, all eyes turned to see who it was and what they were wearing. Hux had entered to silence.

Her white dress uniform and rigid posture stood out sharply amongst the fashionable crowd of diplomats and the wealthy elite. They sparkled and laughed amongst themselves, safe amongst their own kind, while Hux was left to the sidelines. She was an outsider, meant to be observed and dissected but not taken seriously. 

Hux persisted in her efforts. She spoke to plenty of people. Some nodded along as she spoke. Some even said they would consider what she had said. Most turned their noses up at her and went to find more savory conversation. 

They had left dinner in the banquet hall some twenty minutes ago. Hux mostly assumed that the night was now lost. She had made her points at dinner to those who sat near her. They smiled and nodded, offering a few salient points, but the flow conversation always managed to divert into safer waters. 

She was grasping at straws, trying to track down the few guests she knew were sympathetic to the First Order or could be persuaded with the right bribe. Now that dinner was over, however, many of them turned to dancing. Several of her most important targets were either spinning with their partners on the dance floor or drinking bubbling cocktails and watching from the safety of the walls. 

Hardly anyone was in the mood to talk politics and Hux was frustrated. She was beginning to think that a good night’s rest for the first time in ages might be more beneficial than staying here another minute. The chandrilagne, a clear, golden wine with tiny bubbles from its namesake planet, was making her head fuzzy and the constant motion of the dancers was beginning to give her motion sickness.

She called her lieutenant to her side and was about to tell the girl that they were leaving when the doors at the top of the stairs opened for the first time since the reception hour. All of the guests had arrived before dinner, all except one. Even armed with that knowledge, Hux’s eyes widened when she saw who it was.

Lady Kylo Ren looked out regally from the balcony at the top of the hall. She paused there for a moment as though scanning the crowd, but Hux could tell she was giving them all a moment to look at her. 

She had not arrived in her usual ratty, black robes nor was she wearing the custom made First Order uniform that Hux had sent to her room this morning. No, jaws in the ballroom dropped when they saw that Kylo Ren, the fearsome First Order enforcer, apprentice to the last Sith Lord in the galaxy, heir apparent to Darth Vader, was wearing a striking dark red gown. 

Her eyes had been made up darkly like shadows. Her lips were painted red with a line that ran down from the center of her lips to her chin. Hux knew immediately it was a reference to Senator Amidala of Naboo as did many others in the room. 

As Hux had, Kylo Ren descended the stairs in silence. All dancing in the room had ceased as the participants turned instead to watch her. Her dark hair was worn loose over her shoulder, though Hux suspected that there was a great deal of art involved in getting it to look so effortless. Her diaphanous red skirts bobbed along each step. A man at the foot of the stairs, despite his gobsmacked expression, offered Kylo Ren his arm as she made her first round throughout the room. She passed him by without a glance, leaving him to stare. 

The guests parted for Kylo Ren as she made her way throughout the room. She walked with a destination in mind. First to the closest droid carrying drinks and then to the head of the room, where their host and hostess sat like royalty overseeing their party.

Ren held the drink delicately in her hand, looking every inch a queen. Despite their own clothing and jewelry of gold and silver gilding, Ren outclassed her hosts in every way. She had a regal bearing that seemed innate rather than taught, born rather than bought. She raised her glass to them and bowed, a sign of respect towards them, but one that was also bathed in contempt. From the moment she had walked in, everyone knew who was the most powerful person in the room.

Hux believed she was the first person in the room to come to her senses. She knew Ren too well by now to ever let Ren get the better of her. Hux was as awed as anyone by just how good she looked in that dress or by the manners that had come seemingly from out of nowhere. But there was no way in hell that she would ever let Ren know that. Their months of working together, or rather, arguing and trying to find ways that meant they didn’t have to work together, had made Hux more stubborn than ever on that front.

Despite her best efforts, she was still surprised when, after bidding her hosts’ thanks for the party, Kylo Ren turned her attention onto her. She made her way through the crowd without hindrance, coming to a stop just in front of her. Hux couldn’t help but feel that she still stepped too close when they spoke together, and tonight she was much too close, considering the eyes that followed Ren’s every move.

Hux begrudgingly tilted her head up to meet Ren’s gaze. Her regulation dress uniform boots didn’t have a heel that could compete with whatever Ren had on beneath her dress. She took small comfort in the fact that Ren’s extra height likely made her far more uncomfortable than these boots ever could. 

After a whisper in his ear, the host, Ariad Kantor, waved at the orchestra conductor. With a halting start, the band began to play and guests found dance partners once again. There were still several people staring openly at the two of them, unable to tear their eyes away. Hux imagined they made for an interesting sight, full of opposites; dark and light, soft and hard, sharp and smooth. 

“Evening, General,” said Kylo Ren. Her voice was low but clear. 

“I hope you aren’t hungry,” said Hux, feigning concern. “You missed dinner.”

“It took me a bit longer to get ready than I initially estimated, but I see no harm in making an entrance.”

Hux looked Kylo Ren up and down. Part of her was trying to figure out what could have possibly taken so long and another part was taking the opportunity to get a better look at her. The intricate beading on the gown was exquisite, sharp lines tracing delicately over every inch of the bodice and trailing down to the skirt. Hux had rarely seen anything like it this close, let alone worn something like it. 

“Well, the night is nearly finished. You’ve nearly missed your chance to be of any help this evening.”

Kylo Ren frowned and looked about the room. “It seems to me like the party is just getting started. Would you care to join me in a dance?”

Hux sputtered. “That would be highly inappropriate.”

“Officers aren’t allowed to dance?”

“I don’t dance,” Hux insisted. “And neither should any other high-ranking officer.”

Kylo Ren took a sip of her drink before placing it back on the tray of a passing droid. Her lips left a red stain on the rim of the glass. “Then it’s lucky I’m not an officer.”

She raised her eyebrows and stepped away from Hux, turning in a way that Hux felt for certain that she never would have been capable in a dress like that. Hux watched her approach a short and stout gentleman with the green-yellow skin of a Montusian. They talked briefly, too far away for Hux to hear, before the Montusian offered Kylo Ren his hand. 

The two of them stepped out onto the dance floor at the beginning of the next song. She guided two of his hands to her waist and his third hand held hers. Kylo Ren couldn’t help towering over him by more than two feet, but she smiled down on him charitably. As with everything Kylo Ren seemed to do that night, eyes followed her across the room and party guests whispered to each other behind gloved hands. 

Hux too, turned to her lieutenant. “Who has Kylo Ren chosen as her dance partner?”

The two of them had studied the names, faces, and backgrounds of all the important guests at tonight’s function. This man had not come up in their research. 

Lieutenant Walton bit her lip, a nervous habit Hux was determined to break her of. After racking her brain for a moment, she pulled out her datapad and began scrolling.

 

“Ah! Here he is. He’s Antiachs Uton, the younger brother of Galrax Uton, the-”

“-Owner of the Uton mining corporation,” Hux finished. She scanned the room looking for the man’s older brother. At a table near the bar, a four-foot Montusian sat surrounded by empty glasses and plates. The only person seated near him was his sister, Intakz, who sat close enough to whisper in his ear intermittently. It was said that she was the true brains behind the family mining clan. In person, Hux didn’t find that to be much of a secret. 

“I wonder why she didn’t go after Galrax, himself,” said Lieutenant Walton. “If she's interested in support from the Uton corporation, why not ask the leader to dance.”

Hux wasn’t entirely sure that Ren was interested in politics of her decision or in helping out their mission in the slightest. The artful nature of her entrance could not go unnoticed, but Hux had yet to see any progress being made towards their shared goal. She couldn’t see how dancing was going to sway the hearts, minds, and wallets of the very wealthy people here. 

A few onlookers whispered while watching Ren and the Montusian. They were surprisingly graceful for their difference in height. Hux wondered if combat training helped one’s dancing skills. She had always thought Ren was slightly graceless in battle. Terrifying and awe-inspiring certainly, but with a feral nature that took away from years of honing precise skills.

The onlookers gestured toward Galrax Uton and his sister, clearly asking the same question that Walton had. Why not ask the leader of the clan to dance? Intakz whispered in her brother’s ear and his pea-soup colored skin began to turn emerald. Their eyes found Ren and their brother on the dance floor just as the song was ending. They scowled. 

They continued on like that for another hour. Ren found new partners on the dancefloor; the daughter of a spice kingpin, the secretary of a banking clan executive, the mother of a Kanjiklub chieftain. No one important in and of themselves, but Hux could see their potential influence. Ren took the guiding position in each dance, often towering over her partners. She offered them a kind smile with glinting eyes and swept each one of them off their feet.

Hux had given up any attempt at figuring out Ren’s political strategy. After a few too many drinks and having spoken to nearly everyone in attendance, she had given up on her own strategy as well. She stood off to the side of the room, her back against one gilded wall, and nursing a lightly smoking drink. Walton was speaking to some secretary or underling of someone, an unimportant person working for someone marginally more important. She, at least, appeared to be enjoying herself, swapping stories with another employee who, like her, had to manage a prickly superior. 

Hux was happy for her. The lieutenant kept her general in sight at all times and let the civilian flirt with her fruitlessly. There was no chance the brown haired man was going to get anywhere with Walton tonight, but she was going to have fun letting him try.

This night was endless. The party had been going for four hours now and no one had made any move to leave. Hux had to admit that If she had gone through with her plan to leave when she had first intended to, she might have caused something of a scene. Still, the festivities were growing ever louder. If Hux were in her right mind and talking to someone sympathetic, she might have remarked upon the veneer of civilization giving way to the vices of Republican excess. She had no one to talk to and she couldn’t trust her words at this point in the evening, so she kept the half-formed thought to herself. 

Earlier in the night, she had tried to hide her efforts to keep an eye on Ren. Now Hux stared openly. Who cared what she did? Not anyone at this party, that was for sure. None of these ridiculously wealthy people gave a damn about her or her army or her war. What did they care if she gawked a Ren? They were all doing the same whether they realized it or not. 

Ren set her shoulders back and proud. She commanded a regal presence no matter who she was dancing with and she danced each one to perfection. The songs tended to be fast-paced and light, requiring a fair amount of skill to manage correctly. The dancers were left panting slightly, with grins on their faces, having been bested slightly by the tricky steps. Before tonight, Hux had only ever seen Ren’s lips set in a pout, but she smiled at each of her partners. Even Hux couldn’t tell if she meant it. 

As she watched, Ren leaned in and whispered to her current partner. Hux had neglected to investigate who this particular one was. They laughed and said something back, moving even closer to Ren. 

Hux could not figure out Ren’s scheme. This seemed too intimate for the woman. Hux wasn’t sure she had ever seen Ren touch another person if it wasn’t in the midst of a fight. She had an aura about her that kept others at a distance. It acted as an invisible barrier and she never suffered intruders. 

But here she was, with one hand in hers and another on her shoulder. Whispering secrets to people she hardly knew. Dressed like that. 

In a moment of frustration, Hux downed the rest of her smoking drink. She felt her stomach rebel at the thought of what was coming down her throat. It wasn’t the first time that night that Ren had made her irresponsible with her drink.

The song ended and the imbeciles in attendance applauded the band for the hundredth time that night. Hux decided she had had enough of Ren. She was going to put an end to this nonsense. 

“Ma'am?” called Lieutenant Walton. Hux waved her off with a hand. 

For the second time tonight, Hux was glad for her comfortable, low-heeled dress uniform boots. When standing next to Ren in her heels or the businessmen who towered over her, she wished for a bit more height. Now that she had let her inhibitions get away from her slightly, she was glad to have solid footing. 

She caught Ren’s shoulder, just as she had begun to search for her next partner. Her white gloved hand touched bare skin and Hux felt indecent. She pulled it away almost instantly. 

Kylo Ren turned and the gentle smile she had plastered on her face all night slipped slightly. 

“General, what a surprise.” 

She spoke with an even, careful tongue, one that everyone in the room tonight seemed to be fluent in. The remark was banal, but Ren seemed to be suppressing genuine surprise at her intrusion, and Hux was proud of having finally caught her off guard. 

“I’ve come to take you up on your earlier offer.” Hux was grateful for years of elocution classes guiding her thick tongue through soft consonants. 

“I thought Generals didn’t dance.”

“I thought perhaps you could assist me.” Hux kept her gaze focused on Ren’s dark eyes, thought her attention kept drifting to Ren’s hair, where there was an intricate braid hidden amongst black waves, or the creamy expanse of her pale skin, or the red fabric brushing against her boots. 

Ren studied her face with an expression that suggested she could see more than what was on Hux’s surface. Hux didn’t squirm under the intense gaze, but stood there defiantly, awaiting the results of the inspection. 

“Are you feeling alright, General?” 

“Never better,” said Hux. The band’s conductor tapped his baton on his stand. The next song was about to start up. “Shall we?”

Kylo Ren looked at her dubiously but placed her hand on Hux’s waist. Hux almost slapped it away, forgetting for a moment what she was doing. When was the last time someone had touched her there? 

A slower song followed the last one and Hux was grateful, at first. She wasn’t the most skilled dancer while sober and she couldn’t imagine that being slightly drunk would make her better. The song began in hushed tones, a light and delicate arrangement. As Hux began to grow used to the gentle, swaying steps of the dance, she began to regret the song’s slow meter. It gave her far too much time to think about Ren’s hand on her waist or the feeling of the rise and fall of Ren’s chest as she breathed or the lock of black hair that had fallen to Hux’s shoulder. 

They didn’t look at each other as they danced, their gazes carefully directed down or out at the crowd around them. In her periphery, Hux was sure that Ren was looking down at Hux’s shoulder and back, while Hux’s only option was to look for faces in the crowd. If she looked down, she might stare too long at Ren’s chest and Hux wasn’t sure she had enough self-control left to look away. 

The position left Ren’s lips so close to Hux’s ear, perfect for whispering snide comments and intimate secrets the way she had with all of her other partners. The dance steps meant that there was hardly a moment they didn’t spend pressed against each other. 

Perhaps if Hux was slightly less inebriated, she would have resented the strong hand at her lower back. Then, Ren spun her out with one hand and they had to circle each other slowly, joined only at the hand. Hux felt herself arch into the support of Ren’s arms when they came together once again and she hated herself for it. 

“What game are you playing, Ren?” she asked. She was beginning to feel the same frustration she had felt standing alone and watching Ren earlier, the same frustration that had carried her out onto the dancefloor in the first place.

“Excuse me?”

“The dress, the dancing, the smile. What do you think you’re doing?”

“I’m attending a party and trying to secure financial support for the First Order. Exactly what I’m supposed to be doing.”

Hux scoffed. “You’ve been trying to help?”

“Yes.” Ren’s voice had returned to the low, contemptuous tone that she always employed around Hux. Hux thought she almost missed the sound of it. 

“Refusing to wear our uniform, missing dinner, talking to no one, dancing with all the wrong people… that’s your idea of helping?” Her voice had grown slightly too loud. She winced as Ren stepped on her foot, hard, and was certain she had done it on purpose. 

Ren was quiet for a few steps. Hux was certain Ren had done talking to her and was refusing to speak again. It was just the sort of behavior Hux expected of her. Then she felt Ren shake her head.

“I have a bit more experience with diplomacy than you give me credit for, and I suspect you have less skill than you think. In this area, at least.”

Hux bristled. “How dare-”

“You know Antiachs Uton, the-”

“Brother of Galrax Uton, head of the Uton mining corporation, the man you chose as your first dance partner. Yes, I know of him.”

They spun out again, repeating the move from earlier. When they came back to each other, Ren felt somehow closer. 

“Then, you know both Uton brothers are idiots and that their sister is one who makes all decisions for the family.”

“Obviously,” said Hux, who hadn’t been sure if Ren was aware of that fact.

“That isn’t to say, however, that the brothers have absolutely no influence in the family operation. They have just as much access as she does.”

That, Hux hadn’t known. She would have thought that a smart woman would have made sure that her bumbling brothers kept their sticky fingers far away from their mines. 

“And one dance with him was plenty of time to convince him to shift their shipping routes from the Hosnian belt to the Upsilion quadrant.” From Republic trade routes to First Order territory. It wasn’t the same as directly asking for funds and support from the Uton family, but it did mean that they could collect a tax from shipping vessels in their sector of space.

“You convinced him of that in one dance?” 

“Minds of low intelligence are the easiest to influence. He was just happy to be asked to dance. It made his brother jealous.”

“And the others?” Hux was nearly breathless. A shift in trade route, something that Ren made sound so simple, was far beyond anything that Hux had managed that evening. 

“Similar successes. The details have yet to be ironed out.”

Now it was Hux’s turn to be silent. She held firm to Ren’s shoulder as though to keep herself upright. She knew she should be pleased by Ren’s negotiations, but all she could feel was her stomach lurching. She turned her gaze to the floor to keep from feeling sick, inadvertently pressing herself deeper into Ren’s embrace.

“General?” She heard Ren’s voice in her ear and Hux closed her eyes as if to shut Ren out. Her feet had stopped moving in their slow, rhythmic pattern. She couldn’t be sure if the song had ended or not, it took too much effort to keep the contents of her stomach in her stomach to take in the rest of her surroundings as well.

“I’m fine,” Hux said, or rather, tried to say. God, this was a nightmare. “I think it's time for me to leave.”

“Let me help you back to your room.” Another command from the inimitable Kylo Ren. If Hux thought she had any chance of making her way through the Kantor estate without crouching in some corner to vomit, she would have thrown off the hand on her shoulder and told her to shove it. 

As it was, Hux could feel a cold sweat on her brow and knew she didn’t have long. 

“Fine,” she said to Ren. She worried that she sounded even more intoxicated than she felt.

They made their way back up the steps arm in arm, leaving the ballroom and all of the nosy guests behind.

The way to their suite was up another two flights of stairs. Once out of sight of their hosts and the other party guests, Hux felt significantly more reluctance to climb the stairs with any sense of urgency. Kylo Ren, who was having some difficulty navigating the stairs with her own voluminous skirts, saw Hux lean against the golden banister, taking in deep, steadying breaths and let out a groan. She swept Hux off her feet and carried her the rest of the way.

Hux wasn’t in any position to protest. She vaguely wondered where Lieutenant Walton and the other lieutenant had gone, whether they had followed their charges or even noticed that they had gone. Surely, neither of them would have let Ren carry her off, bridal style, without offering some assistance. Then again, there was the ever-present fear everyone seemed to have towards Ren and there was the very real chance that the two lieutenants were off wheezing with laughter at the sight of their two co-commanders. 

Ren didn’t put her down until they reached Hux’s bed. She lingered for a few minutes, waiting to see whether the bed or the bathroom was the right place for Hux to spend the night. Hux had begun to fall asleep in Ren’s arms however and as soon as she landed on the bed she was out. 

She couldn’t say for certain when Ren had left her bedside.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! I hope to have the next chapter up soon.  
> In the meantime, come talk to me on tumblr [@thegingermidget](https://thegingermidget.tumblr.com/) and on Twitter [ @a_ginger_midget](https://twitter.com/a_ginger_midget)


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